Unitary air conditioners, also known as room air conditioners, have all of the components of a central air conditioning system but all of the components are contained within a single housing. This means that the condenser, evaporator, expansion valve, compressor, exterior fan, and interior fan are generally contained within a single housing.
Unitary air conditioners are often used in buildings where there are multiple individual living spaces, such as in apartment buildings and office buildings. Within each living space, an occupant may have individual control over each respective unitary air conditioner that is supplied to cool a particular living space. In warm weather months or in warm weather climates, multiple unitary air conditioners operating at the same time or in unison can create tremendous loads on electric power grids. Also, the building electrical bill may depend on the peak amount of energy used in any one interval (often 15 or 30 minutes) in a billing period as well as on the total energy used in the billing period. This peak interval usage is referred to as a demand charge. Multiple air conditioners on at the same time can cause a demand peak for the building.
In addition to the problems caused by multiple unitary air conditioners operating at the same time within multiunit buildings, it is understood that each living space within a multiunit building may have a unique cooling load. In other words, each living space may require a different level of energy to cool the living space to a temperature desired by an occupant. For example, a south facing side living space which receives a significant amount of sunlight during daylight hours will generally need more energy to cool its living space compared to a north facing side living space which is generally in the shade caused by the shadow of the building during daylight hours.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a method and system for the cooperative powering of unitary air conditioners which takes into account the unique cooling loads of different living spaces caused by the position of each living space relative to sunlight it may receive or other external environmental elements which may impact a cooling load on a given living space. There is a further need in the art for a method and system for cooperative powering of unitary air conditioners in order to reduce the load or strain on an electric power grid, while also allowing each unitary air conditioner to achieve a temperature of a living space desired by an occupant.